Some of the cities, towns, and places in Sonoma County are Bloomfield, Bodega, Bodega Bay, Boyes Hot Springs, Carmet, Cazadero, El Verano, Eldridge, Fetters Hot Springs-Agua Caliente, Forestville, Fulton, Geyserville, Glen Ellen, Graton, Guerneville, Jenner, Kenwood, Larkfield-Wikiup, Monte Rio, Occidental, Penngrove, Roseland, Salmon Creek, Sea Ranch, Sereno del Mar, Sonoma State University, Temelec, Timber Cove, Valley Ford
Sonoma County ( (listen)) is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino County. It is west of Napa County and Lake County.
Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. It is the northernmost county in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region.
In California's Wine Country region, which also includes Napa, Mendocino, and Lake counties, Sonoma County is the largest producer. It has thirteen approved American Viticultural Areas and more than 350 wineries. The voters have twice approved open space initiatives that have provided funding for public acquisition of natural areas, preserving forested areas, coastal habitat, and other open space. More than 8.4 million tourists visit each year, spending more than $1 billion in 2016.
In 2012, Sonoma County ranked as the 22nd county in the United States in agricultural production. By 1920, Sonoma County was ranked as the eighth most agriculturally productive U.S. county and a leading producer of hops, grapes, prunes, apples, as well as dairy and poultry products, largely due to the extent of available, fertile agricultural land in addition to the abundance of high quality water for irrigation. As of 2009, agriculture was largely divided between two nearly monocultural uses: grapes and pasturage.